April 2025 Was the Second Hottest on Record – Global Warming Still Accelerating

April 2025 has gone down as the second warmest April ever recorded, according to the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation program. With a global land temperature average of 14.96°C, it was just 0.07°C cooler than April 2024, the warmest on record. 

This unprecedented warming comes despite the anticipated cooling influence of the La Niña phenomenon, which is expected to return in 2025. Instead, global temperatures continue to climb at an alarming pace, prompting concern among scientists. Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, warned that this unexplained acceleration is a “very worrying sign.” 

According to Copernicus, 21 of the past 22 months have registered global average temperatures at least 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels (1850–1900). April 2025 reached 1.51°C above that baseline. 

Snapshot of April 2025’s Climate Extremes:  

• Europe: Average land temperature reached 9.38°C, 1.01°C above normal. 
• Oceans: Sea surface temperatures (SST) across the globe averaged 20.89°C, making it the second-highest April SST ever recorded, just behind April 2024.  
• Arctic Sea Ice: Extent was 3% below average, the 6th lowest April extent since satellite records began, following four months of record-breaking lows.  
• Drought in Europe: Much of northern and central Europe experienced significantly drier-than-usual conditions.”
   

The ongoing rise in temperatures is pushing humanity closer to crossing the crucial 1.5°C limit set by the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Current projections indicate that Earth could permanently exceed this threshold by June 2029. 

Even small increases in global temperature fuel more frequent and intense extreme weather events, including storms, droughts, and floods with devastating effects on ecosystems, agriculture, and public health worldwide. 

As fossil fuel use continues, the climate system is reacting faster than expected, raising urgent questions about surpassing the potential climate tipping points and the resilience of Earth’s polar regions. The polar regions are especially vulnerable, and changes there ripple across the planet, affecting oceans, weather systems, and even global food security. 

This latest data underscores the need for immediate and sustained climate action. Cutting emissions, accelerating the transition to renewable energy, and bolstering adaptation strategies are critical to slowing this dangerous trend.

Feature image: Anomalies and extremes in sea surface temperature for April 2025. Colour categories refer to the percentiles of the temperature distributions for the 1991–2020 reference period. The extreme (“Coolest” and “Warmest”) categories are based on rankings for the period 1979–2025. Values are calculated only for the ice-free oceans. Areas covered with sea ice and ice shelves in April 2025 are shown in light grey. Data source: ERA5. Credit: C3S/ECMWF. 

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Read more about Sea-level rise by clicking here. 

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